“The things that the flag stands for were created by the experiences of a great people. Everything that it stands for was written by their lives. The flag is the embodiment not of sentiment, but of history.” ~ Woodrow Wilson, 28th U.S. president, quoted for U.S. Flag Day, June 14, 2010
Real Simple magazine ran a beautiful feature this month. It features 6 women who became U.S. citizens last year, and each describes why they chose to become American. This article had an intense effect on me because last week I went on a date with a guy who pronounced how not proud he is to be an American. I replied, “The why don’t you leave?” In case you were wondering, we’re not going on a second date. I can’t date someone who profusely explains that he is not proud to be an American and yet happily uses every government service at his disposal.
As I went home from the date I thought about some concrete reasons of why I am proud to be an American. If I had to choose just one reason it would be because here in this country we can dream as big and bold as we want to. Here are the lead in lines to the article in Real Simple that explain why these women became Americans:
“To live free of fear” ~ Lorraine Lamm, 31, from Kingston, Jamaica
“To be in a place where greatness is encouraged” ~ Monika Kochhar, 28, from Lucknow, India
“To escape oppression” ~ Than Than Aye, 51, from Yangon, Myanmar (formerly Rangoon, Burma)
“To be with my soul mate” ~ Avishag Mofaz, 44, from Tel Aviv, Israel
“To break with my past” ~ Michele Mitrovich, 28, from Volgograd, Russia
“To give my parents – and myself – a better life” ~ Maria Yoplac, 35, from Lima, Peru
The image above depicts a study pamphlet from 1907 that helped people to study for the exam taken by all perspective American Citizens.
Christa Avampato 